Sky Eclat
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- Oct 17, 2012
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Margaret Loughrey, 56, from Ballycolman, Strabane, in Northern Ireland, was found dead on Thursday morning eight years after winning £27million on Euromillions
Margaret Loughrey was unemployed and on her way home from the job centre when she bought a Euromillions ticket on a whim and ended up scooping £27million.
She checked and re-checked her numbers while pacing around her house in Strabane, Co Tyrone, for five hours the next day trying to process what had happened before calling her brother.
'Maggie Millions' bought an old mill, as well as a pub and various homes, while also giving away half of her fortune to good causes.
But her win also attracted the wrong sort of attention and she claims thieves stole millions from her, leaving her with just £5million in 2019.
Her mental and physical health also deteriorated, with her weight at one stage reportedly dropping to five-and-a-half stone.
This morning she was tragically found dead, aged 56.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it is not currently treating her death as "suspicious", after her body was found at 10.30am in her home.
A post mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death, the force added.
"I regret winning the lottery, of course I do. I was a happy person before. I am a human being and all it has done is destroy my life," Margaret once said during an interview.
Her problems began almost immediately after her landmark win which saw her scoop the biggest lottery fortune Northern Ireland had ever seen.
She was sectioned for four months in 2013 and later admitted to Sunday Life: "If there is a hell, I have been in it. It has been that bad."
She added: "I will never have peace as long as I live. Even if I didn't have a penny left, I won't."
Spending her cash brought no end of trouble.
Margaret splashed out £1million to buy the historic Herdman’s Mill in Sion Mills a year in but it was targeted by vandals and set on fire multiple times.
She also continually locked horns with Sion Mills Cricket Club, eventually locking them out of their pitch on the grounds before an agreement was reached.
In 2015, she drunkenly assaulted a taxi driver as he took her home after a party, breaking his glasses and smashing his satnav.
He drove her directly to a police station where she had to be physically restrained by officers, and was later ordered by magistrates to do 150 hours community service.
Last September an employment tribunal awarded her former general assistant, Patrick Breslin, £30,000 after it determined she had mocked his religion before sacking him.
Her latest business venture had seen Margaret buy her local pub The Greyhound Bar with plans to transform it into The Back Street Bar.
She also intended to build 18 affordable homes on her own land, among a string of charitable donations running into the millions.
But Margaret was never fulfilled.
"Money has brought me nothing but grief. It has destroyed my life," she said a couple of years ago.
